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“I don’t even remember the phone ringing. When my partner Michael got home after work I couldn’t stand up, my hands didn’t work properly and I struggled to speak.

“That’s when he called the paramedics and I was taken to hospital.”

The paramedics noticed Jaco had red blotches all over his skin - a symptom of Sepsis - and immediately started a course of antibiotics as they rushed him to hospital.

Jaco Nel's dog Harvey

When they arrived at A&E, Jaco collapsed and was taken straight to the intensive care unit where he was placed in an induced coma.

People who go into septic shock only have around a 20pc chance of survival. The infection interferes with the body’s blood-clotting mechanism, with many smaller blood clots cutting off circulation to parts of the body and causing blood pressure to drop dangerously low.

In Jaco’s case, his kidneys started to fail and his legs started to turn black as gangrene set in.

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“I was lying there in hospital looking at my black, gangrenous legs and fingers. Looking down I knew I was going to lose everything. I could tell the tissue was dead.

“Even though the doctors had played it down, I knew how severe it was.”

Four months after being admitted to hospital Jaco had both his legs amputated below the knee. He lost all fingers on his right hand and one on his left hand, and needed reconstructive surgery on his face.

With the use of prosthetic legs, Jaco, now 52, has been able to learn to walk again and live independently.

But the facial disfigurement he has suffered has been difficult to come to terms with.

“I am very reluctant to go out because I am so self-conscious,” he says.

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“The dog doesn’t need to bite for that to happen. It can just be passed on through its saliva.

“What if he had infected a child? It could have been terrible.

“Luckily he was an older dog and was coming towards the end of his life.

“There were times when I was very angry and I blamed him.

“But it was still very sad for us. The bacteria was just bad luck.”

It is now 18 months since Jaco, who moved from South Africa in 2001, contracted Sepsis. And, while the psychiatrist is still coming to terms with his life-changing injuries, he has been touched by rays of hope.

“My friendships have become much stronger as a result of what happened to me”, he says. “To see how much my friends and family cared for me was a positive. I have realised I have a lot of inner strength because of what I have been through.

“I think I have a lot more to give to my patients in terms of empathy and understanding. I know what it’s like to be close to death and to have a disability.

“There’s something in me that I need to share and help people. I hope to eventually show people it is possible to overcome so much in life.”